DISQUS

Janus owns the rights to this, Tristana, Simon of the Desert, and the recently acquired Belle de Jour, so hopefully they will release it onto DVD. I was hoping for a Bunuel/Pinal boxset, but I think they are working on a Mexican Bunuel boxset with this title included.

Beside the title card, I remember certain scenes being edited differently, so that a scene where the couples all sit down at the table is repeated right after. If there were Janus logos before your copy, it may not have had this issue.

Jandy, I'm curious as to your VHS tape. I saw the film when it was on TCM a few years ago and I quite liked it and wanted to see it again, so I rented the VHS tape and DAH! The version on video had the strange title card at the beginning and many of the scenes were re-edited to show repetition that was definitely NOT in the TCM/Janus screening.

Did your VHS also suffer from this stranger Americanized version?

For shame, Jands! To give the Anderson and the Godard the same rating.

This kid has a new video? Amazing. I've only seen his Guitar Hero II solo.

Have you played Rock Band yet? The drums are an absolute workout.

I just may have to check this out when it comes to DVD.

I have The Road on my list as well, after a friend of mine -- just like yours -- told me to stay away from NCFOM, at least for the time being.

Are you going to cycle through Antonioni's 7 films from the 60s and 70s? I did that last year and it was quite amazing. The hard part was finding copies of Red Desert and Zabriskie Point that were letterboxed, but they do exist.... in St Louis even!

Strangely I'm currently watching last night's Office online as we speak.

Looks like someone else has an RSS feed of Bordwell.

Thanks for the link! Can't say I agree with a lot of it though.

Heya Jandy,

I loved The Fountain as well, very moving. My thoughts on the interconnectedness of the three stories was that storytelling and fantasy was used as a way to come to terms with death, whether it's the fantasy of a fountain of youth or just the act of telling a story in general. So I looked at the his future self as being his way of coping with death when he himself started to die just as the conquistador story was her way of coping with it. It's a strange interpretation and one not many other people seem to agree with, but it did explain his hospital-wear, his bald head, and even at one time (at least I think it existed) a hospital bed in the bubble. I'm curious if that crossed your mind.

Also, did I miss your review of Le Petit Soldat or did it not happen yet? And my thoughts exactly on My Life to Live.

I'll be watching Shock Corridor soon, though I'm not quite sure what to think of Samuel Fuller. I almost wonder if Jean-Luc et al openly praised him to counterbalance their nerdier interests.

Oh, and The Good German is not just an homage to the 1940s, but actually a bit of a conceptual remake of Lars von Trier's Zentropa, pastiche and all.

hey pal, go crazy

The Tivoli in the Loop will be showing a new print of Pierrot le fou in early September.

I went to Wash U and then worked at BJC for a few years after graduating, but I was there long enough to know that the high school question might be the most asked question in the area. =P

To continue with that...

You may 'get lucky' with 2 or 3 Things -- Rialto's new print of it has been touring the country. Though I think it may have already passed through the mid-west.

St Louis, eh? Dare I ask where you went to high school?

Well, Chantal's no Anna, but she's still pretty cute.

You want to watch all of Godard eventually, right? If so, I would say you can leave it as is. I personally enjoy watching the good with the not-as-good.

Another Truffaut-ite defects for Godard -- love it!

Have you not taken a look at Masculin Feminin? It may be my favorite of all his 60s work.

And email me (filmboblog@gmail.com) if you have any interest in taking 4 of Godard's 80s films off my hands. It's amazing how many people no longer have a VHS player.

I'm with you on the time travel part -- I'm picturing a scene from Westworld, only without Yul Brenner.

And alas, you left off The Landlord from your list of Film Forum flicks, unless Ashby isn't your cup of tea.

You may be right, but I tend to look at Godard's play with audio as Postmodern. If Modernism shows that reality is subjective, then Postmodernism shows us how it is so. In the case of A Woman is a Woman, Godard seems to be calling attention to the artist's process at creating his/her reality, which in this case is the use of sound. Of course, this all assumes that this distinction between Modernism and Postmodernism is correct. Do you also find that the definitions for these change each year?

Elements that make Godard Postmodern? Like you said, he makes things used such as certain genres (musical, crime, science-fiction) or a director's style (Rossellini in Breathless, Antonioni in Contempt, Tati in Keep Your Right Up). He also calls attention to his own process to show their subjectivity, either by making each element of cinema the subject (editing, sound, color, narrative) or through metaphors (watching the Stones' decisions in One Plus One, watching Lang's and Piccoli's decisions in Contempt) or maybe even both at the same time (orchestral rehearsals in Prenom: Carmen). Though be forewarned that I am far from a scholar and these theories may not be correct.

As for Rivette, he's just as interested in a process instead of an outcome, though he's a bit more subtle. His films are about reading into things, at times literally about the meaning behind the used objects of secret societies or the subtext of a work of art -- and these often become one and the same. His films also are about the process of creation and imagination where characters create their own reality, sometimes to the point where their subjective world becomes reality. But unlike Godard, Rivette never really calls attention to the camera or the editing in the same deconstructive manner, but I think they are both equally playful. If you haven't found Celine and Julie Go Boating yet, it's worth every penny you'll need to spend for a used VHS copy online.

Resnais is hard to classify. I haven't seen too many of his films, but of the ones I have seen, I think Hiroshima and Muriel would be Modern, while Marienbad would be Postmodern, but this is simply based on the level of experimentation for each film, and they may not even be valid classifications. The two Moderns have a distinct political agenda, which seems to define the "subjective reality" perfectly (or at least how I have defined it). Whereas Marienbad, both a reshaping of a sci-fi novel and an essay on hyperreality, feels just too playful to be simply Modern. I'll need to see this again when Rialto rereleases it theatrically later this year. My only viewing of it was on the out-of-print Fox Lorber disc, and it was before I had really trekked into 1960s French cinema.

Very interesting. I've never fully questioned whether or not individual filmmakers in the Nouvelle Vague were in fact Post-Modern directors. JLG and Rivette for sure are Post-Modernists. Truffaut is hard to judge. His first three films are Modernist -- in my opinion, of course -- and while his later attempts to pay stylistic homage to Hitchcock might be considered Post-Modern, they aren't actually any good, which in this case I think should be a qualifier.

But you bring up an interesting point, that one's interest in low-art crime or Hollywood B cinema makes him a Post-Modernist. I'm curious if you felt that someone like Godard's fascination with the genre was a genuine one. I've had a hard time buying that his obsession with imitating low-art was no more than an attempt to appear less nerdy, and more cool among audiences -- much like how Tarantino is today. There's no doubt that Tarantino is a fan of Godard, yet clearly loving 1960s French art cinema is not the image Tarantino wants to have -- hence his hammering down our throats how much he loves crap exploitation. With respect to Godard, I wonder if he too felt the need to hide his interest in Dreyer or Antonioni by constantly showing us how much he loved the "cool" American B films. So, it may just be a coincidence that the post-modern French filmmakers of the 60s also showed an interest in genre cinema, rather than this fascination being the pièce de résistance of what qualifies someone as Post-Modern.

Though it's funny that you've just posted on this, since I've recently been having this conversation with friends about French filmmakers as well. I've had a hard time trying to classify Tati, Melville, Resnais, Demy, and Bresson as either Modernist or Post-Modernist. I fear the line is hazier than I would like it to be.